After the amazing time we had at GHNP (read the previous blog), we reached Chandigarh on 5th June. Our flight back to Mumbai was on 7th June, so a quick ‘demo’ of Chandigarh was taken.
5th June 2011 -
Reached Hotel Samrat in sector 22D opposite Kisan Bhawan on Dakshin Marg at 1:30 p.m. & after room serviced lunch, went by car to see Rock Garden & Sukhna Lake. The 1.5 days in Chandigarh was not part of the GHNP trip, but our own extended stay.
Waterfall in Rock Garden
6th June 2011 –
Planned to go to Pinjore Gardens around 4 p.m. but dropped later, so almost full day of rest & sleep, recovering on the aches of the descent from Shilt. In the evening explored a bit of the market area sector 17, tried out food at ‘Sindhi Sweets’.
7th June 2011 –
Settled out at the hotel Samrat & reached airport by 10:05 a.m. only to find out flight was delayed by nearly 2 hours (Chandigarh didn’t seem to want to leave us so easily!). Back to base Mumbai home at 5 p.m.
Chandigarh Impressions:
Almost all roads throughout the areas we saw upto sector 1 and airport were wide and beautifully lined with trees – what a contrast to Mumbai roads which are forever in the state of dig-up and construction. I suppose even Le Corbusier would have been helpless & in a quandary if Bombay was to be planned… 
Unfortunately we were in Chandigarh during the least good time i.e. deep summer with temperatures of 39-40 degrees C. To top that we went sightseeing on the Sunday after coming back from the cool forests of GHNP!
The Rock Garden is worth watching & one cannot but admire Mr. Nek Chand’s patience and perseverance. It almost feels like a game of memory to remember all the ‘waste, broken’ material that he has used to make his creations.
Nek Chand Innovations and Creations – Rock Garden officially inaugurated in 1958.
I spotted in one place a piece of ceramic with “Bengal Potteries Ltd., Made in India, 1959” imprinted on it. Later I found out that Bengal Potteries had to close down in the late seventies after a long successful run during the 10’s to 60’s. But Nek Chand’s innovative creation has kept it alive for a long time to come in the future!
(Writeup on Bengal Potteries at http://www.potteryindia.com/GlazedPottery/bengal.html)
Great big vines, creepers, tree roots??
:) Nah -- a Nek Chand creation with cement & rods!
Sukhna Lake was like a mela with almost entire Chandigarh there – or so it seemed to us – as it was a Sunday 
. Boating in the lake was in full force as well as some reality competition near the food stalls. We peeped into the so-called Chandigarh Emporium there & found all the modern knick-knacks probably were ‘made in china’ too. We made our escape from this place at the earliest and went back to the quiet of our hotel room.
Sukhna Lake
The elderly Sardarji driver who took us to the Rock Garden & Sukhna Lake in his taxi was quite cool in his attitude – he had shops in Kullu and travel business based out ofChandigarh. He mentioned that his family liked to visit Bangalore, Ooty, etc. 
. He spoke of the relaxed lifestyle in Chandigarh–10 a.m. to offices & 5-6 p.m. free again.
On 6th June, Monday after an afternoon’s rest we stepped out to see the sector 17C/E market and came across ‘Sindhi Sweets’ which was on the recommended eateries list on the net somewhere. So there we were ordering the chats of different types… but we from Mumbai were really disappointed – all had almost the same taste which was overpowered by the curd in all of them. When we asked about the curd, the waiter said that chats without curd was not known there and would have to be specially told to skip. But then we had Rasmalai & Kulfi which were really nice.
But yes the ‘Proanthas’ we had at Gurbax Dhaba near our hotel (on the recommendation of Mr. taxi-driver Sardarji) were quite yummy.
While coming back from sector 17C on 6th June, we took a ride on the cycle rickshaw – we don’t remember when we last had a ride on one such. The rickshaw-puller mentioned that he had recently bought his rickshaw costing about 10000/- on loan & was trying to pay off and make it his own soon. We wished him well and the next day bid goodbye to Chandigarh – the well-planned city.
